Kids and reading #blogvember
14 Nov 2013
Never too soon to start long form books
My son can’t read … yet. He can recognise letters and his own name. He knows when you *cough* skip over sections or pages of familiar books. He has been read to since the day he was born. His bedroom hosts the philosophy, poetry and reference sections of our library. When he was tiny, he did delight in making me furious by pulling the ones on the bottom shelf off, one at a time. Mostly he understands that books need to be treated with respect. I have never told him he can’t read a book. I will read him any book, any time. I have made myself a rule, which is often exploited, that I would never refuse him a book or reading time.
Today I read an article in the New York Times about reading books to kids. Or to be clear about what it is actually about, censoring books on the fly while reading to kids. The piece describes Lynn Messina’s attempts to read Harry Potter to her five year old. She has caved in to her child’s persistent requests for her to read Harry Potter aloud. However, rather that just read it, as it is written, she censors as she goes. As she does, of course, she warps the plot. At first I think it must be a spoof, a troll, a joke. But no, it is real and earnest. Eventually, after making it through the first book, she decides not to continue with book two. This woman is a writer. She changes stupid to silly, she changes kill to hurt. I wonder why she bothered at all?
I have written before about the wildness of childhood, and in particularly of the role of Sendak’s books in helping children to make sense of the world that is much more huge than they imagine. There are so many great books, I cannot imagine censoring one book, because the child wanted it. If the child wants it, let them read, or read it to them. Children are much more capable of dealing with the world than we ever give them credit for. More able to comprehend and their hearts are pure, motives simple. Unlike ours.
Nov 15, 2013 @ 12:03:27
Cannot agree more with your sentiments! Yesterday i read that NYT piece and shook my head in disbelief for the same reasons that you illustrate here. Later in the day, i collected my kids from school and was bowled over by my excited 11yo daughter who had just received an “A+” from her teacher for a writing assignment.
Abi’s Yr6 class has been studying the Vietnam war. They were asked to write an account of what it might be like for a Vietnamese child to flee home and seek asylum in Australia. Abi wrote a 10 page story telling of a boy and his younger sister who were separated from their parents, attacked by “the Communists”, and subsequently found a place on a boat bound for Australia. They were attacked at sea by pirates but managed to keep their identification secure, they landed at Melbourne and were put into detention. They were then aided by a kindly government official, enrolled at school, endured some bullying, were eventually reunited with their mother and today are living in suburban Melbourne. He is touring country Victoria with his soccer team and she is top of her class at school.
Obviously Abi’s story is imperfect, but honestly i’m just so proud of the scope of the story that she’s managed to tell – an impossibility if we’d taken the approach advocated by Lynn Messina!
Abi read the HP series when she was 8. Over the last 3 years she’s read dozens of books including the Diary of Anne Frank, the Hunger Games series, Tomorrow When the War Began, Asylum, The Chronicles of Narnia, and most Judy Blume books. All of those books can throw up a red flag for parents sensitive to themes of death, war and/or sexual awakening.
As you say, “Children are much more capable of dealing with the world than we ever give them credit for.” When children read difficult or distressing stories they get to see life through different eyes and then return to the safety of their own reality. Why on earth anyone would want to stifle that is a mystery to me.
There is only one rule about books in our home: read widely. Treat books as though they were food … enjoy a balanced diet, all things in moderation!
*sorry for lack of capital “i”, my keyboard is broken.